Locking clips for retaining parallel members

ABSTRACT

Described are locking clips for mechanically coupling parallel members, such as cables, poles, pipes, and electrical conduits. The clips include retaining elements that accommodate the members in respective retaining bays. The retaining elements are flexible so that each member clips into a respective bay. Locking mechanisms associated with the retaining elements limits the flexibility of the retaining elements once the members are installed, and thus locks the members in place.

BACKGROUND

Environmental consciousness and newly promulgated laws place ever-increasing emphasis on maintaining water quality in lakes, streams, groundwater, and industrial effluents. Due to this emphasis, there is a growing market for systems capable of monitoring various physical and chemical properties of water resources. Parameters of interest include conductivity, dissolved oxygen concentration, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), pH, temperature, and depth, to name just a few.

Surface-water data is typically collected using immersed sensors. Collecting groundwater data can be more troublesome, often requiring that wells be drilled for sensor insertion. Drilling wells is expensive, but the cost can be reduced by minimizing bore diameter. Sensors for use in wells are therefore made to have relatively small diameters. For a detailed description of typical sensors, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,944 to Henry et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.

It is often desired to simultaneously monitor two or more water-resource parameters or to measure the same parameter with a number of redundant sensors. Such applications sometimes require a number of sensors be collectively inserted into a single well. Due to the desire to maintain a small well diameter, sensors are often staggered along a well bore for multi-sensor applications. Unfortunately, staggered sensors may be monitoring materially different water samples. Moreover, the water in some wells may be too shallow to submerge multiple sensors arranged in series. There is therefore a need for a means of introducing a plurality of sensors into narrow-bore wells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A depicts a sensor 100 that can be combined with like sensors to create multi-parameter systems for monitoring groundwater in small-diameter wells.

FIG. 1B depicts a clip 130 adapted to bind together three sensors 100 of the type depicted in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1C depicts a multi-sensor array 160 that includes three sensors 100 arranged substantially in parallel.

FIG. 2A depicts a lock 200 for insertion into respective compression reliefs 145 of a pair of clips 130.

FIG. 2B depicts a multi-sensor system 220 similar to system 160 of FIG. 1C but with three locks 200 inserted into compression reliefs 145 to secure sensors 100 within respective retaining bays 140.

FIG. 2C depicts a side view of system 220 of FIG. 2B.

FIG. 3 depicts sensor system 220 of FIG. 2C inserted into a well 300.

FIG. 4 depicts another embodiment of a clip 400 adapted to support three sensors.

FIG. 5 depicts a clip 500 adapted to support four sensors.

FIG. 6 depicts a clip 600 that supports six sensors.

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict a clip 700 that can be used in conjunction with another identical clip to support seven sensors.

FIG. 8 depicts a two-sensor clip 800 in which the compression relief 805 is semi-circular.

FIG. 9 depicts a clip 900 that can be used to place three sensors in a planar array.

FIG. 10 depicts a clip 1000 adapted to host an array of six sensors arranged in two parallel planes.

FIG. 11 depicts a clip 1100 that include differently sized retaining bays.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1A depicts a sensor 100 that can be combined with like sensors to create multi-parameter systems suited for monitoring groundwater in small-diameter wells. Sensor 100 is representative of a number of substantially cylindrical sensors used for e.g. sensing temperature, depth, pH, and ORP of groundwater. Sensor 100 conventionally includes a cable housing 105 that provides a secure, watertight connection between a cable 110 and a sensor body 115. The opposite end of sensor body 115 connects to a sensor housing 120. Sensor body 115 houses the electronics necessary to drive signals generated by a sensor in housing 120 out onto cable 110. Sensor 100 includes a pair of grooves 125, the widths of which are designed to accommodate a clip, described below, for securing sensor 100 to one or more other sensors. One or both of grooves 125 may be incorporated into body 115.

FIG. 1B depicts a clip 130 adapted to bind together three sensors 100 of the type depicted in FIG. 1A. Clip 130 includes three retaining elements 135 that define between them three retaining bays 140. Each retaining bay 140 has a diameter D that is somewhat greater than an opening E defined between adjacent pairs of retaining elements 135. Diameter D is selected to snugly accommodate grooves 125 of sensor 100.

In some embodiments, threads in sensor body 115 mate with opposite threads on sensor housing 120. The width of the groove 125 defined between housing 120 and body 115 can therefore be altered to accommodate clip 130. In one such embodiment, screw-tightening housing 120 into body 115 with clip 130 installed compresses clip 130 between housing 120 and body 115 to provide a secure mechanical connection, and screw-tightening housing 120 into body 115 without clip 130 installed eliminates the groove. Grooves 125 differ in FIG. 1A to show two examples, but are typically of the same type.

Compression reliefs 145 ease the compression of respective retaining elements 135 to admit sensors 105 into retaining bays 115. Each compression relief 145 includes a pair of lock-retaining tabs 155, the purpose of which is explained below in connection with FIGS. 2A through 2C. Clip 130 is sufficiently rigid so sensors 100 snap into place, in the manner depicted in FIG. 1C, to form a multi-sensor system 160 that includes three sensors 100 arranged substantially in parallel. In one embodiment, clip 130 is Delrin^(™) plastic, but other materials are also suitable.

FIG. 2A depicts a lock 200 for insertion into respective compression reliefs 145 of a pair of clips 130 (FIGS. 1B and 1C). When installed, lock 200 reduces the flexibility of flexible retaining elements 135, and consequently secures sensors 100 within retaining bays 140. Lock 200 includes a pair of slots 210 and holes 215. Slots 210 mate with respective compression reliefs 145: holes 215 engage lock retaining tabs 155 to secure lock 200 within compression reliefs 145. Lock 200 includes tapered ends that ease insertion and extraction of sensor system 220 into wells, tanks, and the like.

FIG. 2B depicts a multi-sensor system 220 similar to system 160 of FIG. 1C but with three locks 200 inserted into compression reliefs 145 to secure sensors 100 within respective retaining bays 140. FIG. 2C depicts a side view of system 220 of FIG. 2B with one of locks 200 omitted to better depict a pair of reliefs 145.

FIG. 3 depicts sensor system 220 of FIG. 2C inserted into a well 300. Well 300 includes a water level 310 that is too low to accept a plurality of sensors arranged in series along the depth of well 300. Multi-sensor system 220 connects to an aboveground receiver 315 via a sturdy cable 320.

FIGS. 4-10 depict various alternative clip embodiments for securing multiple sensors. FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment of a clip 400 adapted to support three sensors. Clip 400 includes a hole 405 that allows water to drain out of the cavity defined between three sensors. Hole 405 may be advantageous in embodiments in which the sensors tightly contact one another to minimize the collective diameter, and thus create a more or less sealed compartment between them. Hole 405 may also be used to mount a collection of sensors to a rod or cord, or to provide an avenue for a cable.

FIG. 5 depicts a clip 500 adapted to support four sensors. Of interest, clip 500 includes only a single compression space 505 that may be provided with a lock (not shown) of the type discussed above. Provided clip 500 is sufficiently resilient, clip 500 can be assembled into a multi-sensor system by snapping sensors into three retaining bays 510, leaving one retaining bay adjacent compression relief 505 for the last sensor. Compression relief 505 can be locked after inclusion of the last sensor.

FIG. 6 depicts a clip 600 that supports six sensors. Clip 600 includes a compression relief 605 that differs in shape from the compression reliefs depicted above to show that the compression relief used in a given embodiment can be adapted as desired. In this example, a lock 610 snaps into relief 605. Lock 610 is also depicted in side-view (upper-most depiction).

FIG. 7A depicts a clip 700 that can be used in conjunction with another identical clip to support seven sensors without increasing the collective multi-sensor-system diameter beyond that provided by clip 600 of FIG. 6. Two clips 700 can be combined as depicted in FIG. 7B to form a seven-sensor clip 710. The pair of clips 700 share one groove 125. The portions of clips 700 that do not overlap when forming clip 710 can be made twice as thick as the overlapping portions, if desired.

FIG. 8 depicts a two-sensor clip 800 in which the compression relief 805 is semi-circular.

In some cases arrays of sensors are not inserted into a well, but might instead be placed e.g. on the bottom of a lake, pond, or stream. Planar sensor arrays may therefore be preferred in some embodiments. FIG. 9 depicts a clip 900 that can be used to place three sensors in a planar array. A locking mechanism 905 is attached to clip 900 via a flexible member 910 to keep the locking mechanism and clip together when clip 900 is unlocked. Sensors 100 should be loaded left-to-right, leaving the sensor bay adjacent the compression relief for last.

FIG. 10 depicts a clip 1000 adapted to host an array of six sensors arranged in two parallel planes. Clip 1000 includes a single compression relief 1005. Clip 1000 should be loaded left-to-right, leaving one of the retaining bays adjacent compression relief 1005 for last.

FIG. 11 depicts a clip 1100 that includes differently sized retaining bays. Such embodiments may be desired for use with different types of sensors or to attach one or more sensors to e.g. a support. For example, a collection of sensors may be attached to a support rod adapted to position the sensors at an appropriate position within an effluent well. Though not shown, the retaining bays may also be of shapes other than semicircles and may be adapted to secure elongated elements having non-circular cross-sections.

While the present invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments, variations of these embodiments will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the clips described above can be used secure elements other than sensors, such as cables, poles, pipes, and electrical conduits. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the foregoing description. 

1. A locking clip comprising: a. a plurality of flexible retaining elements defining a plurality of retaining bays to accept respective ones of a corresponding plurality of parallel members; b. a compression relief disposed in at least one of the retaining elements between the retaining bays, the compression relief easing compression of the respective one of the retaining elements; and c. a lock to insert into the compression relief after the retaining bays are fully populated with the members, wherein the lock, when inserted into the compression relief, reduces the flexibility of the at least one of the retaining elements to secure the parallel members within the respective retaining bays.
 2. The clip of claim 1, wherein the lock snaps in place within the compression relief.
 3. The clip of claim 1, wherein the retaining bays are semicircular.
 4. The clip of claim 1, wherein the lock is fixedly attached to one of the retaining elements.
 5. The clip of claim 4, wherein the lock is fixedly attached to the one of the retaining elements via a flexible member.
 6. The clip of claim 1, wherein the retaining bays are arranged in a circle about a common axis.
 7. The clip of claim 1, wherein the retaining bays are arranged in a linear array.
 8. The clip of claim 1, wherein the retaining bays include a first retaining bay of a first area and a second retaining bay of a second area less than the first area.
 9. The clip of claim 1, wherein the members are ridged.
 10. A system comprising a. first and second parallel members; b. a first locking clip having: i. a first plurality of retaining elements defining a first retaining bay accommodating the first parallel member and a second retaining bay accommodating the second parallel member; ii. a first compression relief disposed in at least one of the first plurality of retaining elements between the first and second retaining bays, the first compression relief easing compression of one of the first plurality of retaining elements; and iii. a first lock positioned within the first compression relief, the first lock preventing the compression of the one of the first plurality of retaining elements; and c. a second locking clip having: i. a second plurality of retaining elements defining a third retaining bay accommodating the first parallel member and a fourth retaining bay accommodating the second parallel member; ii. a second compression relief disposed in at least one of the second plurality of retaining elements between the third and fourth retaining bays, the second compression relief easing compression of one of the second plurality of retaining elements; and iii. a second lock positioned within the second compression relief, the second lock preventing the compression of the one of the second plurality of retaining elements.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first lock is connected to the second lock.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first lock snaps in place within the first compression relief.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth retaining bays are semicircular.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the first lock is fixedly attached to one of the first plurality of retaining elements.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first lock is fixedly attached to the one of the first plurality of retaining elements via a flexible member.
 16. A locking clip comprising: a. a plurality of flexible retaining elements defining a plurality of retaining bays to accept respective ones of a corresponding plurality of parallel members; b. a compression relief disposed in at least one of the retaining elements between a pair of the retaining bays, the compression relief easing compression of the respective one of the retaining elements to ease admittance of one of the parallel members into a retaining bay adjacent to the respective one of the retaining elements; and c. a lock to insert into the compression relief, wherein the lock, when inserted into the compression relief, reduces the flexibility of the at least one of the retaining elements to lock in place the parallel members in the retaining bay adjacent to the respective one of the retaining elements. 